Top News

Apple-Google Maps Talks Crashed Over Voice-Guided Directions — Google Chairman Eric Schmidt says Apple should have continued to use Google's mapping application in iOS 6 instead of swapping it out for its poorly received home-brewed replacement, and given the sour reception Apple's Maps app has been given, he may have been right.

Google Working on Maps for iPhone and iPad — People pining for a Google Maps app on their Apple devices will get one eventually, but likely not for another couple months or so. — Google is developing a maps application for iPhone and iPad that it is seeking to finish by the end of the year …

Google Play hits 25 billion downloads — Whether you're looking for directions, checking email or sharing a picture with friends, apps are now an indispensable part of life. And if you're using Android, it all starts with Google Play, home to 675,000 apps and games. That's a lot of choice.

Twitter CEO Costolo Talks Ads, Facebook, and IPO — Twitter is at a turning point, trying to roll out advertising while also maintaining the user experience. I sat down with Twitter CEO Dick Costolo at the company's new San Francisco headquarters to talk about his plans to grow the social media giant.

Murdoch's Times unblocks search engines to seek new subscribers — In May 2010, News Corp.'s The Times newspaper said it would block search engines from indexing its stories, believing it must remove all possibility of free access as it introduced digital payments. — Two years later, that philosophy is being up-ended.

Amazon Starts a Shopping Site for the Environmental Crowd — Amazon.com is going after the environmental crowd with a new site called vine.com for buying green products. — Vine is part of Quidsi, the company that Amazon bought in 2010 that also runs sites like Diapers.com (baby stuff), Wag.com (pets) and YoYo.com (toys).

Microsoft gently reminds iPhone 5 users of Bing app — Apple has been ripped one way and down the other for its own home grown iOS 6 map app that launched just a week ago. The data errors, and sometime laughable map images, have caused both Nokia and Google (via Motorola) to slam Apple's first attempt at a mobile mapping app.

Silicon Valley Exec Shelby Bonnie Joins Allen & Co. — Longtime Silicon Valley executive Shelby Bonnie started off his career as a financial analyst. He may wind up finishing it that way, too. According to his LinkedIn profile, Bonnie has just joined Allen & Co. as a managing director in the investment firm's San Francisco office.

Netflix CEO Keeps Focus on Expansion, Price — Netflix Inc. Chief Executive Reed Hastings is trying to prove that his streaming-video company isn't in a state of arrested development. — Last year, Netflix lost subscribers and investor confidence with a debacle over a sharp subscription …

Samsung Sees Stronger Start for Note 2, Unfazed by iPhone — Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) expects sales of its new Galaxy Note 2 smartphone to get off to a stronger start than its predecessor even after Apple Inc. (AAPL) sold a record number of the latest iPhone in its debut weekend.

Barnes & Noble Takes Aim at Amazon With New HD Nooks — Yesterday, Barnes & Noble revealed its plans for a Nook-branded online video store. — Today, the company is showing off the products it hopes you'll be watching that video on: New Nook tablets, called the Nook HD and Nook HD+.